WOODBURY – Patrice Gans wants to make the world a better place, and she’s going to do it by bringing kids, technology and activism together into one powerful force.

Gans is founder and executive director of Random Hacks of Kindness Junior, a nonprofit organization that provides fourth- through eighth-grade students the chance to collaborate with computer science mentors and community subject-matter experts. Together they take on real-world challenges submitted by local community organizations and work as a team to make the world a better place.

The global organization Random Hacks of Kindness started in 2009 as a joint venture between Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, NASA and the World Bank. The goal was to bring together experts in disaster management and crisis response with software developers and designers.

THE NEXT RANDOM HACKS of Kindness Junior event will be held today from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Westover School in Middlebury. Girls in grades four through eight will get an opportunity to help groups including the Connecticut Food Bank of Waterbury, Animals for Life of Middlebury, Acts 4 Ministry in Waterbury, the Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition of Woodbury, Give More HUGS, Little Britches in Roxbury and H.O.R.S.E. of CT in Washington.

Members of CT-CSTA, the Computer Science Teacher’s Association, Connecticut chapter, will be on hand offering assistance.

Random Hacks of Kindness Junior calls these events “hackathons,” in which students work with tech experts and nonprofits to try to create apps that help the groups accomplish their goals. Think of it as technology making a difference.

Having the groups there helps the students know what they need and they can in turn give some feedback to the charities and nonprofits about what they think might work, might not work, and what would be appealing or not.

“You can accomplish a lot in a short time, and in the end do a lot of good,” Gans said. “It exposes kids to technology and they get to learn about all of these groups out there trying to make a difference and they also see that technology can help.”

Before launching of Random Hacks of Kindness Junior, Gans taught computer science at Fraser Woods Montessori School in Newtown. She has served on the board of directors of the CSTA as its national K-8 representative.

She now wants to expose students to coding and computer science concepts as early as possible and uses Scratch and App Inventor. Today’s hackathon hopes to get the message across that technological innovations can have an impact on social development, especially when focused on solving problems.

“I want to run more events, as many as we can manage,” Gans said. “I’ve been talking to a lot of different groups and trying to get the word out because people are having a hard time grasping what this is about.”

WHAT IT ULTIMATELY is about is making a difference and raising social consciousness through technology. Kids today know what apps are; they use them practically every day to play games, post pictures and videos and more. Now they get a chance to see there is more than trying to see how many likes you can get, you can actually do something to make a difference with an app.

During today’s event, students will investigate issues of personal interest and then explore technical solutions. They could create a website using HTML, design apps for the Android Phone using AppInventor, or program learning games using Scratch.

Students will be assisted by computer science majors from the University of Hartford and Trinity College, as well as high school students from Westover School’s WISE – Women in Science and Enginnering – program.

Gans said she has 45 students signed up for today’s event and more on a waiting list.

She hopes to grow her reach with different venues stepping up to host events and sponsors and other supporters getting on board to support the cause.

“To me, a hackathon is an event where you accomplish a lot of stuff in a short period of time,” she said. “All of your energy is focused directly on the end goal. And the end goal for the event is to empower kids to see that technology can make a difference.”

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